U.S. Soccer President Calls for Overhaul of World Cup Bidding

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati
says the World Cup bidding process needs an overhaul as FIFA’s
decision to award the 2022 event to Qatar continues to bring
questions about the timing and voting.

“Is it something we’d like to do in the future? Sure, but
I think the rules need to change,” Gulati said at the Leaders
in Football conference in London today.

The sport’s governing body, FIFA, picked Qatar as the 2022
host ahead of Australia, Japan and South Korea and the U.S.,
even after an evaluation report by the soccer authority’s own
officials that said it was a “potential health risk” for
players and fans to play matches because of dangerously high
temperatures in June and July.

FIFA is now conducting a consultation to determine whether
the competition needs to be rescheduled to a different time of
year.

Gulati, who was elected to FIFA’s executive committee
earlier this year, said that the U.S. needs an assurance that
future World Cup tournaments are awarded on the strength of bid
documents rather than an agenda which favors countries which
have never hosted the tournament.

“If it’s a critical issue to host the tournament in new
lands then let us know and we won’t bother,” Gulati said. “The
World Cup and the Olympics have become so important to countries
that nation states are now essentially bid committees.

‘‘That’s a very difficult situation for countries like
England or the United States, frankly, which operate a little
bit differently,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re not going to conduct a
foreign policy that’s based on hosting a World Cup.”

Gulati also rejected an earlier statement by the chairman
of the English Football Association, Greg Dyke, that the Qatar
tournament would definitely not take place in June and July.

“There is no pre-existing agreement or consensus on the
outcome of what is going to be an important review,” he said.